I Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with I. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“I didn’t have the vaguest idea of what to do – I couldn’t keep staring at the wall forever, I told myself. But even that admonition didn’t work. A faculty advisor reviewing a graduation thesis would have had the perfect comment: you write well, you argue clearly, but you don’t have anything to say.”
Source: Pinball, 1973
“I didn’t have time to fall apart. It was Saturday, and the team was having a late afternoon practice. I still had so much work to do over at my office. People were counting on me. The guys would show up to the field and expect me to be their head coach. Still, the thought of facing another day, of going through the motions in a world that felt so vibrantly alive while I felt so irrationally tired inside, felt overwhelming.”
Source: The Problem with Players
“I didn't have time to marvel at this exceptionally efficient tousling before his mouth found mine. The kissing was done as he did everything else—thoroughly and extremely competently.”
Source: A Peculiar Combination
“I didn’t have time to teach her anything other than how to talk more interestingly and, maybe, how to dream.”
Source: Orchard of Skeletons
“I didn’t have to fantasize about his next move. The love story just played out in front of me. He holds my hand, looks me deep in the eyes and gives me one long, appreciative, understanding, truly gracious kiss.”
Source: Once Upon a Time..In a Dental Office
“I didn't have to stand here in the darkling arms. I could vanish from his grip, slide back into consciousness and the safety of a stone room hidden in the mountaintop. But I didn't want to go. Despite, everything, I wanted this whispered confidence.
"Yes." I breathed.”
Source: Ruin and Rising
“I didn't hide out there, and I'm not hiding here,' I raise my chin. 'I'm not the one who ran.”
Source: Fourth Wing
“I didn’t intend the book as anything therapeutic and I don't think that’s a novel’s goal or responsibility.”
“I didn't intentionally gravitate towards stories of women. I was interested in human rights, which often boiled down to this question: who was winning and who was losing? And over and over again, country after country, story after story, it was the men who were winning and the women who were losing. Not always, not everywhere, but most often, and by a wide, wide margin.”
Source: Women We Buried, Women We Burned: A Memoir
“I didn’t invent darkness, but in far too many ways I’ve given it permission to invent me.”
“I didn’t invent this twisted system that pits us against each other and makes us do crappy things for status—but I do know how to play it.”
Source: Ace of Spades
“I didn't judge; it was as if that were part of my purpose: I wanted to know the men who moved through my nights like passing comets, wanted them to feel the pleasure of being known.”
Source: What Is the Grass: Walt Whitman in My Life
“I didn't just come in on a load of turnips!”
“I didn't just feel it; I recorded each and every sensation. I can replicate each one. I will. I'll play it back plus ten for the pastardthat caused my love to fall. And before they go down, I'll wet the concrete with their brain mattter. I'll explode their marrow out of their bones and make a mess of their capillaries. I'll make a paste of their eyes, Yasmine, I promise. I'll make them bleed from their ears and turn their digestive system against them. They'll digest their own organs. I'll increase their pain receptors so that their clothes feel like sandpaper. I'll make their own breath soun d like a DC-10 is landing in their chest. I'll fill their longs with every excessive fluid in their body I can find. I'll make a decomposing mess of them, I swear I will. They'll pray to gods they don't belive in for the pain to end before I explode each taste bud in their mough and inflame their genitals with the stray parasites they immune system usually fights off.”
Source: The Liminal People
“I didn't just foster the delusions. I lived them. Even after the world crashed, I clung to them. But after he died, I told myself no more. No more brave fronts or false hopes or pretending everything's okay when nothing is. I thought I was being tough by pretending, calling it being optimistic, brave, keeping my head up or whatever bullshit seemed to fit the moment. That's not tough. That's the very definition of soft.”
Source: The Infinite Sea
“I didn't just hear music. It seemed as if I were part of the music.”
Source: 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life
“I didn't just love him…I needed him. Not in some desperate "you complete me" sort of way. No, Vincent didn’t make me whole. He improved me. Something about him—something I didn't understand—had a way of amplifying the good in my nature while muting the bad. He was a catalyst for my soul. I didn't need him in order to exist...I needed him in order to be a better me.”
Source: Once Upon an Ever After
“I didn't just wake up one morning and think, "I'm a boy!" It sort of crept up on me and tapped me on the shoulder a few times before I started to pay attention I began to think that the word "girl" didn't quite fit me. It was like a shoe that was too small -- it pinched me.”
Source: The Pants Project
“I didn't kiss Sophie to get back at you, I kissed her because I'm in love with her!”
Source: Mafiosa
“I didn't know about you. I just knew that about me. And I guess I felt like knowing you made me face those thoughts. You are my meditation, you know?”
Source: Icon and Inferno
“I didn’t know all the rules of pain yet, the rules of doctors and power and the military decorum and submission, but I would learn.”
Source: Pain Woman Takes Your Keys, and Other Essays from a Nervous System
“I didn't know anything about anything. And the only difference between then and now is this: I may know more than I used to, but my wisdom pales in comparison to that which I've yet to learn.”
Source: Charmed Thirds
“I didn't know at the time that it was common for people to use prescription drugs to cope with PTSD. I didn't know that the more opioids someone takes, the more sensitive they become to pain, making the opioids less effective. I didn't know that the number of veterans addicted to their prescribed meds had tripled that year. I didn't know there was an epidemic, not just at our hospital but country-wide, and it was just reaching its peak. The thing is, it wasn't my job to know.”
Source: Alive Day: A Memoir
“I didn't know clothing sales got you so hot and bothered, Quinlan.'
She nearly whimpered. Forced herself to keep still. 'It's the little things in life, Athalar.”
Source: House of Earth and Blood
“I didn’t know exactly what would come next—lately, I’d allowed myself to imagine running a dance company of my own, composed entirely of women. The idea was terrifying, exhilarating, transfixing. I knew now, finally, that those feelings were hard to come by. You had to pay attention when they showed up.”
Source: The Ballerinas
“I didn't know how bad I felt, until I felt good.”
Source: GG's Journey: From Lost to Loved
“I didn’t know how else to say it other than it seemed like I saved him from crumbling. For as long as I was in his arms, it was like the world around him could be crumbling, but he wouldn’t be. He would be safe, he would be untouchable, he would be all right.”
Source: Counting Stars
“I didn't know how to let you go.”
Source: 99 Days
“I didn't know how to love like that, in bold gestures. My expressions were small: a folded love note buried in a jacket pocket, a drafted email addressed and sent to no one. Could a quiet love like mine be just as true?”
Source: Thirst for Salt
“i didn’t know how to measure my worth,
and it led me to someone who measured his worth
in attention from her, and also her, and her…
and any other her to hurt me
he thought there was power in possession and pain,
and that a man’s kingdom should be built
on the stepping of her back and the forfeit of her crown
so i forfeited. and i faded. but i’m learning things…
like how real lovers don’t come in numbers. they aren’t prisoners.
they’re not meant to be suffocated, or left for granted…
and how i’m full enough of wonder to hold someone’s attention,
that my full voice matters,
my full-bodied existence is beautiful,
and that a man on the strong side of oppression isn’t
the same thing as a man who is strong.”
“I didn't know how you'd get us out of that last one. But you did. You were good.”
“I didn't know,' I said. 'Didn't know about that part of the treaty.'
Faeries couldn't lie- and he spoke plainly enough, no word-twisting.
'Most of you mortals have chosen to forget that part of the Treaty,' he said, 'which makes punishing you far more enjoyable.'
My knees quaked. I couldn't escape this, couldn't outrun this. Couldn't even try to run, since he blocked the way to the door. 'Do it outside,' I whispered, my voice trembling. 'Not... here.' Not where my family would have to wash away my blood and gore. If he even let them live.
The faerie huffed a vicious laugh. 'Willing to accept your fate so easily?' When I just stared at him, he said, 'For having the nerve to request where I slaughter you, I'll let you in on a secret, human. Prythian must claim your life in some way, for the life you took from it. So as a representative of the immortal realm, I can either gut you like swine, or... you can cross the wall and live out the remainder of your days in Prythian.'
I blinked. 'What?'
He said slowly, as if I were indeed as stupid as a swine, 'You can either die tonight or offer your life to Prythian by living in it forever, forsaking the human realm.”
Source: A Court of Thorns and Roses
“I didn’t know I was looking for you, but I was,” he whispered.”
Source: Moonshadow
“I didn't know I was lost
Until you found me
I never knew what love was
Until you touched my hand
I lost myself long ago
In between your lips
And now here you are
You steal my breath away
Until you I never really knew heaven
Cause until you it was only ever hell
I didn't know I was so far gone
Until you brought me home
I promise you, girl
I know you're shattered
I'll pick up your pieces
And make you whole again
Cause until you girl
I've been shattered too
Since my very first kiss
It's only been you”
Source: Saving Grace
“I didn’t know if he was someone I wanted to date. I didn’t know if we were even compatible. All I knew was that our sexual chemistry was scorching, I was beyond attracted to him, and if anyone was going to rock my world, I wanted it to be him.”
Source: No, Don't Ever Stop
“I didn’t know if I was brave or reckless.”
Source: Girl in the Woods: A Memoir
“I didn’t know if I was crying because it hurt so bad or if I was crying because I had failed by letting the pain hurt me so much.”
Source: Animals Eat Each Other
“I didn’t know if I was straight or gay. But I did know I loved Michael. And it wasn’t just for all the nice things he’d done for me—it was because of who he was, the kind of man he was, the way he treated me… with respect.”
Source: Second-Story Man
“I didn't know if I was unhappy. I felt too miserable to be unhappy.”
Source: Ham On Rye
“I didn't know if it was possible to kick someone hard enough to knock the cocky out of 'em, but for Rowan I was willing to try.”
Source: Sacrifice
“I didn't know if the universe actively taught lessons. But if it did, the lesson was that I could not handle what I thought I could handle. The lesson was that I didn't need to act out with Theo to learn the lesson. I didn't have to suffer again. The suffering of others, Claire and now Diana, could remind me of my own suffering: the suffering of the past and my potential future suffering. Maybe this is why we did things in groups. Maybe this is why people had friends: so we could see ourselves and our own insanity in them.”
Source: The Pisces
“I didn’t know if you’d want me to come in,” he said.
Relief made Emma sag against the doorway. “I do want you to come in.”
"I didn’t know if you’d want me to touch you,” he murmured against her skin.
“I want you to touch me,” she said. “There’s nothing you could do to me that I wouldn’t want, because it’s you.”
“I want to go slowly,” she whispered. “I want to feel everything.” He gripped her hips and flipped their position, rolling over so that he was above her. He grinned down at her wickedly.
"Slowly it is,” he said.”
Source: Queen of Air and Darkness
“I didn't know if you were still living... in sin. I didn't want a bad influence in his life."
I spoke past the growing lump in my throat. "I'm not a monster. Just because I naively fell in love with a semi-divorced man doesn't mean I would have harmed your son. Jesus! You'd think I spent most of my life on death row by the way you talk about me when I've never seen the inside of a jail. Unlike Warren Sr.!"
To this day, I have no idea why I had to tack on that part about Marvina's deceased husband. It was petty, but seeing as we were already wallowing in the muddy puddles of our past, what difference did it make?
"He wasn't a jailbird," Marvina spat back. "He only went in once for a ticket he didn't pay before the deadline." She opened the oven and slid the onion skins inside next to the peppers.
"Don't I know this already. I hope the forty dollars of mine that you put toward his bail served the both of y'all well.”
Source: Sisters with a Side of Greens
“I didn't know it, but what I was really looking for was compassion. Not consciously of course. I didn't consciously want to become compassionate. Who in his right mind would give up his place at the center of the universe? Compassion is scary. If you open up too much to people, they have power over you and make you i things for them. Better to keep them at a distance ...”
Source: Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I've Learned
“i didn’t know it
for most of my growing up…
but my mama had dreams.
dreams that weren’t of ring shapes and dress colors.
she had dreams that were drenched in art
and tasted like adventure…
ones that felt like being kissed
until her heart burst…
ones that opened up her whole soul
like a wildflower on fire.
but i didn’t know it.
i didn’t know it because she tucked them away
in pretty memory boxes
and hid them in tattered journals that
she pushed aside for perfectly-scripted scrapbooks,
and she buried all her burning desires under
yes ma’ams and sunday dresses
and sweet, supportive smiles,
while any part of her that ever maybe might
could’ve known that she mattered…
by herself, for herself,
and belonging. to. herself.
suffocated quietly under the white noise
of all those voices that had told her that
all that really mattered
was that she had been chosen… by him.
and when i started to see that inside of her
was a whole other woman that she ached to be…
i knew i couldn’t go through my life aching for the me
i’d never be, in that same way.
so all i’ve ever wanted… is to know that i matter.
by myself. for myself. and belonging to myself.
chosen by no one, but me.”
“I didn't know it then, but it was one of the best decisions of my life.”
Source: Shantaram
“I didn't know it was happiness at the time, because it felt like busyness and exhaustion and financial stress and self doubt.”
Source: The Correspondent
“i didn't know
it was possible
to spend a lifetime losing
the same person
over and over
but here i am
and there you aren't.”
Source: [W]holehearted
“I didn’t know it was the booze, always the booze, that brought on the darkness.”
Source: Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music
“I didn't know it would hurt so much
Is it supposed to feel this way?
My lungs are functioning but yet I can't breath?
My heart is pumping yet it bleeds?
My eyes are open but I'd rather be sleeping
I know my brain is working but it won't let me stop thinking.
All the good times and even the bad
Memories and its smiles
Sorrow and its tears
Every moment infused
The littlest thing
Something someone did or said
The way they sounded or how they acted
Can trigger it all
I don't know what hurts worse.
The fact that my heart still wants you
Or the knowledge that yours doesn't want me
I didn't know it would hurt so much
Is it supposed to feel this way?
All I know is that my fingers are bleeding as I pick up the remains of my heart off the floor and only time and tears are going to be the stitches that mends my heart”